Julie Williams spoke first, after several people who attended shared information with the group. Below are summaries of topics Julie addressed.

Julie said there were parallels between her experiences Nov. 2013-2015
and the things happening in D.C.

Julie drew a parallel between what the unions did in Jefferson County to the three non-union supported board members — and what unions and the Left are doing against Trump and his administration.

She stressed the importance of not wasting time, and not underestimating the ability of the establishment (unions, mainstream media, academia, the Left, etc.) to work relentlessly and effectively to destroy the character and credibility of the new administration with the bombardment of lies, accusations, and subtle, or not-so-subtle, innuendoes.

Julie gave her opinion of errors made by the new majority on the Colorado Jefferson County School Board, and also errors made by the new superintendent during 2014 and 2015.

It is understandable that they didn’t expect to be attacked with lies

The initial huge mistake of the new board members and the new superintendent — was that they chose not take decisive actions when they could. That is understandable, but they lost their opportunity, never realizing they would not have four years to make changes.

They could never have anticipated that the people who had maintained control for so long, never intended to “work together”, or to support the new board majority or new superintendent in any way. The people who had maintained control for so long, were intent on keeping their control of the school district, and immediately began to do what was necessary to make sure they would keep control.

The unions and their supporters worked tirelessly and effectively for two years to spread those lies — successfully eroding away the support that the three board members had in November 2013. Many former supporters ended angry at the majority on the board, anger based on lies, enabling establishment union-supported people to bring about the successful recall of the three — two years before the end of their 4-year terms.

Julie was elected November 2013, and was recalled in November 2017 — the recall ousted all three reform candidates – making the Jefferson County School Board solidly 5-of-5 — all union-supported, establishment-supported members. Everything went right back to the previous status quo. The three board members elected after the recall, are up for election this coming November.

The majority on the board and the superintendent didn’t take them seriously.

Julie pointed out that, first of all, the new board majority and the superintendent should have recognized that they could not work with the opposition — and should have immediately replaced people in positions of influence who had opposing approaches to education. Many of the existing staff, who had supported the previous majorities on the board (several decades of union-controlled school boards), were not going to shift their loyalties to a new board majority that wanted to change things. Those who were against the new board members, remained in position, and would end up advising the board, controlling what information would get to the board, and would control what information would be disseminated to the public.

Things they should have addressed immediately

The new board and superintendent should have insisted on changing things so that they would have had a way to communicate directly to the public through the school district website.

They should have immediately stopped the PTA from having free access to the school district website. For many years, the PTA had been using the school district website to communicate directly to the school district parents and employees. The PTA supports candidates that are union-supported.

The first year they were on the board, the new board candidates should have ended the requirement for teachers and employees to belong to the union, and should have stopped the school district from collecting Union dues. A whole year of union dues were collected that year — money that would be used to keep political control — to help finance the efforts to get rid of the three reform school board members.

Note: Union dues that are spent politically, are spent to support democrats and a few non-democrat candidates who agree with the positions of the Unions — or support people who can be controlled by the Unions.

Julie shared why she ran to be on the board

Part of the reason she ran for the board position was to help students with special needs. Having a son with special needs, she was aware that students with special needs were being short-changed.

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Senator Tim Neville was the second guest speaker

The Colorado State Legislature is over half-way through the 2017 Legislative session. You can access the home page for the Colorado Legislature at: http://leg.colorado.gov/

We appreciate that Colorado State Senator Tim Neville took time out of his very busy day at the Capitol, to come to our meeting.

He represents Colorado State Senate District 16 (Boulder, Denver, Gilpin and Jefferson Counties.

He is on four committees:
The Business, Labor and Technology Committee – Vice Chair
The Legislative Audit Committee – Vice Chair
The Finance Committee – Chair
The Education Committee

He shared with us details of several bills that are going through the Legislature right now. He, like the other elected senators and representatives, have to study constantly to understand what each bill would accomplish if it were passed — and decide whether or not to support it.

Senator Neville pointed out that it is important for citizens to be aware of bills that are introduced, and to bring information to our representatives and senators.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE 2013 NOVEMBER ELECTION
WHEN THREE JEFFCO SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS WERE ELECTED
WHO WERE NOT SUPPORTED BY THE UNIONS?

Julie was one of the three members of the Jefferson County Board of Education (JeffcoBOE) elected in November 2013. The three were not endorsed by the unions. Since the Jeffco BOE is a 5-member board, they became the majority! Immediately after their elections, the unions began working to recall the three — and two years later, the unions successfully had the three recalled.